New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-09-01
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
TEXTBOOK OF pHoNo- srENoaRAPHY. Based upon
the System Of W. stole. BY r. o. DeIIhASN' o'o''
Do X, l72 New-york: +. o. Dettmann.

TEXTBOOK OF PHONO-sTENoGRAPHY Based sron
the System Of W. htolze BY f. o. DRTThASN. oVo''
pp. X, l72. Nsw-york: +. o. Dettmann.
Shorthand writing In Germany has mover attained the
popularity which In England and America amounts al
mos, 70 craze and fcversh interest in the art as an
eay of not turned the heads OF inc
sturdy Tcutonic youth Yet the Fatherand mas us
hre NJ stenograpbic enthusiasts 1t has never per-
hans produced any such phenomenally RAPID wntefs
as Reed or McElhone, evolved any system OF euoh
perennial excellence as Isaac Pitmans' out it sno
hand societies" numerous, IL mas d 0o'''i"'i
shorthand liter ature and at least two ocr''"
those of Gabelsberger and Wilhelm stoiz are oh'i
to rank with the most respoctabie-the rcpo' "ns
stats of the German Rechstag the Prussiah p,o' "a
fbe Hungarian and Swiss legislative bodies ocins IN
deed composed almost wholly of disciples Oh o'o,eo
The theories OF this inventor we're hrst presence
In practical shape In a German teauso n,, -
wears AGO by DIR. Smmerlein, the ch'ei o :.
porter of the Parliament at Berlin fio"' w.
treatise and from an English version OF stoize oy III
,usS.",,s Mr. Dettmann has developed his English
.aan,a,,on and a clever adaptation 1t Is Inc TX
Incidents he employs to make German rules II. Eng
Iish cases are ingenious and effective anu "h'io oo
scieptiousIy adhering throughout 10 the spn'' VI w
original no has courageously departed from inc ie'er
wherever there distinct advantage to be gained
rhr no bas beeu not only shrewd enough to perceive
the vslue Of phonetic notifications but liberal enough
IN apply them to his work. and no careful investigator
will doubt that the change is an improvement
solze,s chief peculiarly is in the linear direction
NJ his characters distinguished rom mo "'''N
ematical, or perpendicular. In otter wofuS' 'noy
formed on the general principle as the ic''ors "
oritnary longhand, both as to slope and shape-re-
h,,n In THE nartIcular an American method which
n few wears ago enjoyed some vogue In this country
They nossess therefore. but little geometnc peau'y'
n page of them looking not unlike haphaAaiu o'i
lection of ambitious schoolboy hourshes' ou' oioy
are certainly easy to WRITE and that Is NO nie@n ~"
vantage. The system divides them into three grades
according to height. the small longhand NJ ocihs
taken as unit. The distinction between heass
so,rding and lght-soundng cons0nants Is shown ny
tho grade of the character and the voweis ana ther
value are indicated by the position OF the
nv the thickness Of the initial oOnsonane anu ny '
length of the bar-stroke Joining consonan's oe.we
which vowels occur. Where two consohah's io,o"
each other without an Intermediary vowel the hfs'
q, ,.cod higher than the second. Words having only
yowe, sounds arc represented by vowel Characters
with an upstroko at the beginning. Inc wofu-slshs
AFRO short and scientifically evolved, ana the pned or
reporting style is attained by the scienuno ossio
of subordinate parts of words In accordance with h1eo
rules, stoize's own maxim being that every SOUND
must be represented by character ana thc oiii''o
character supplied by the rule"
As matter Of fact the strongest point OF inc sSs'o
fs its weakest Uncertain writing, obscure notes ana
slow reading are eparable from method which per-
mits of the shortening of the same wou ntwo UT 'oo
different ways and by three or four diherent r"eS
N saw nothing of the burden imposed on the memory
of the student and the demands W at our author
calls his power Of combination" Whatever may DO
the case with other tongues, it has been indubaoiy
demonstrated that principle Of shorthand which IN
wolves systematic dependence on the context can Do
made 10 work successfully with English The null
tplication Of forms having double meanings is NUT
full soure of confusion and bewlderm"nt and the I'M
fortunate reporter who should be called upon to de-
cipher on the spur of the moment dozen pages OF
testimony written under pressure and In any such I'M
certain way, It is likely would be almost as much at
loss as IL confronted with the original notes OF tho
Grafton of Cato relative to the Catalnaran conspiracy
In word, "phonostenography has the merit Vi oe'hs
easily written; the rules for abbreviation, however,
are pcrpexing and hard remember and the brief re-
porting form is indIstinct.